Motor Control and Fatigue

Description

Fatigue is an important but not yet well-understood symptom in many patient groups. The symptom of fatigue is modulated by both changes in perception and by changes in (physical and mental) performance. Thus, fatigue comprises dysregulation of homeostasis in various organs, including muscle, brain and the cardiovascular system as is seen in various patient-groups and aging. Fatigue can be studied as a patient-reported symptom but can also be used to induce homeostatic dysregulation in healthy individuals to reveal patterns of cortical activation which are difficult to study in patients. To study mechanisms underlying fatigue the group assesses (changes in): \- brain activation by functional magnetic resonance imaging (blood-deoxygenated level detection and network analysis) \- excitability of motoneurons \- muscle properties by recording force, electromyography, muscle activation The group investigates effects of fatigue, or induce fatigue during both physical and cognitive tasks in healthy controls and various patients groups, including multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain or spinal cord injury, Parkinson’s disease. Fatigue is used to reveal: \- inter and intra-hemispheric interactions in healthy controls and patients \- age-related changes in cognitive and motor performance More insight into fatigue is essential to shape understanding, management and ultimately treatment to help both patients and their caregivers to manage their illness. (Description adapted from working group website: see link above) ​